What if there was no wrong way to write?

What if there was no wrong way to start a book, or a blog, or a journal entry?

Or no wrong way to describe  (to yourself or others) that thing that happened years ago and shaped every day since?  Or to describe how that thing finally let go of you?

Or no wrong format, or voice, or length, or tone, or timing?

What if anything you said on paper (or screen) was exactly what was supposed to be said?

What if the thing you most long to write is exactly what you and we most long to hear?

What if the only right way is exactly the way that works best for YOU?

Just because Natalie Goldberg often writes in coffee shops, or Stephen King writes with heavy metal music playing, or Joyce Carol Oates says running is a fantastic writing fueler, or Annie Dillard insists a writing space needs to be sparse, tiny, view-less and undecorated, or that Hemingway wrote in the nude … just because those things were “right” for them doesn’t mean they have to be right for you.

Experiment, notice, make a tweak (to your process, your environment, your mood, the time of day, the type of pen), experiment some more, keep what works, tweak what doesn’t feel right, and repeat and repeat and repeat.

What if there were no wrong way to write — what and how and when and where and why would you write (or not)?

[note: for more reading about how other writers write, see the "I recommend" page]

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